A Thabhairt Toirse
by thecrazytagteam
Summary: This isn't the Christmas Carol, and it doesn't have the same characters in it, but its still good! The reason why I put it in the Christmas Carol secdtion is because the Christmas Carol inspired me! The setting and characters arn't alike but the plot is!


**A Thabhairt Toirse**

**By: Kaleigha White**

It was a cold December afternoon and the snow fluttered softly in the wind. The old mans house had long-sharp icicles hanging dangerously from his creaky old roof. But the man didn't mind them at all, mostly because he was hovering over a nice warm fire in his front yard. He kept his shivering hands close to the little bright blaze because he knew he wouldn't have it for much longer. The man stayed frozen to the ground until he heard tinkling bells off in the distance and shifted towards them.

He looked over down the street to see a group of people trudging through the wet snow, going door to door singing Christmas carols. When they finally came around to his house he stood and saw that his granddaughter was singing with them. A smile crossed his worn face as they started to sing the Wexford Carol ; the song that happened to be his favorite. Once they were through with the tune, he sighed and took his granddaughter into his arms and congratulated her. With his old Irish voice he said "Happy Christmas to ya' Susie." With that being said, he pulled back. As she and her choir moved to the next house, Susie looked back and called out to her grandpa " Have a happy Christmas seanathair", But because of her long red wavy hair, the snow, and her choir's carols, the words didn't reach him.

When her little green eyes flickered away from his, he then kicked the surrounding snow into the fire pit. As the fire dimmed and smoke curled in the air, he walked back up the creaky old porch steps. When he got to the familiar red door of his house he tried the knob but it was locked shut. The old man muttered swears to himself and made his way around the house.

Approaching his back yard he heard his neighbors bulldog growling and barking. He glanced over at the large creature sticking it's head over the tall fence, and then turned away not wanting to see the annoying animal.

Now walking up the back porch steps with wobbly knees, he finally reached the door. Shaking the knob open he was hit by a rush of warm air coming from his furnace. Susie had told him many times to not leave his furnace burning while he was away, but he just shrugged it off. The old man knew that Susie cared very much for him but because of her overflowing schedule, and over-protective parents, she could never stay with him. He looked off in the distance, remembering his past and all the things he had done wrong and never be forgiven nor fixed.

Susie crunched her feet through the cold snow house to house with a bright radiant smile. All in all she had had a prodigious afternoon so far. The only thing that had been bothering her was seeing her seanathair. There was something strange about him that had hinted to her that he was upset over something. Susie also guessed that it was probably between him and her parents. She always knew that her mother and her grandfather never had a good relationship, and that something went on between them. But Susie vaguely remembers him from her fourth birthday party, but she couldn't remember anything that happened there. She does clearly remember hearing hushed conversations between her parents about him; they always talked about how he was such a bad role model and couldn't be allowed near their house. But what antagonized her the most was the mention of beer pubs and abuse. It always seemed impossible that her seanathair would cause so much harm when he seems so harmless.

At these hopeless times of doubt Susie would walk to the Christmas tree in the center of their neighborhood and kneel to pray for the child of Christ to come. She would whisper for the virgin Mary to be waiting near the candle in the window of her room. Eventually she had to stop leaving the house. Susie knew that in order to mend her family she would have to stay in touch with her grandfather. So therefore she decided to secretly keep meeting up with her grandfather every now and then.

Alone in his solitude the old man sat in his house, waiting for anything to happen. And finally his waiting had brought something new, a slight tap on his door and ring of his bell told him that someone was at his door. He got up and stumbled to the door and opened it wide, greeting the ice cold air that chilled him to the bone instantly. There before him was a little one almost swaddled to the head with all sorts of clothing. As he looked down, the child held a torch close to their chest. When the child looked up he realized that it was his youngest granddaughter, Molly. Molly held the torch as close as she could without burning herself, and then adjusted it again in her arms to hold it a certain way. But he also noticed a tiny old songbook in her hand. Once he got her through the doorway he immediately closed the door and spun around to face her. Standing there awkwardly Molly greeted her seanathair " Hello seanathair"

For a moment he stared at her with disbelief than replied ignoring her greeting " What are you doin' here? Didn't yer' parents ever tell you not to go walking around alone… And quickly put that torch out, we wouldn't want to be burnin' the place down!"

Molly stood in absolute silence for a while and than opened her song book and skimmed through the pages. When he was done she started to sing softly

Christ is born, tell the folk of the village, Jesus is sleeping in His cradleAh, ah, beautiful is the Mother; Ah, ah, beautiful is her now, good folk of the villageHasten now, the Christ-Child to seeYou will find him asleep in the mangerQuietly come and whisper softlyHush, hush, peacefully now He slumbersHush, hush, peacefully now He sleeps.

Molly then put out the torch and that's when the old man realized that his solitude was now finally over.


End file.
